30 SECOND GUIDE: Graphene

The Daily Mail City team explains the potential practical applications of this new 'miracle material'.

Don’t you mean graphite?

No. Graphene is a new creation developed by scientists at Manchester University. It won the Nobel Physics Prize in 2010 and has been heralded as a ‘miracle material’ that will transform industry.

What’s so good about it?

A single sheet of carbon atoms, is it so thin that you would need three million sheets just to stack up to 1mm. But it is stronger than steel, tougher than diamond, and conducts electricity 30 times faster than silicon.
Impressive.

Miracle material: George Osborne tours science laboratories being used to research the use of Graphene during a visit to the University of Manchester

Where can I get some?

It is currently being put into products and devices made by companies
such as electronics giant Samsung and IT group IBM – even Novak
Djokovic’s tennis racket, made by Head.

It is also being used in some
aircraft wings, digital displays and solar cells. But its practical
application could stretch further.

Such as?

Yesterday a group of universities won
research funding to expand its use. The consortium, led by Chalmers
University of Technology in Sweden, will receive £427million from the EU
over the next decade.

The research will stretch across more than 80 universities, including Manchester, Lancaster, and Cambridge.